Tuesday evening at the Leopold Café, Mumbai's legendary back packer hang out on Colaba Causeway and the night is buzzing.

Amongst the flotsam and jetsam of the young and energetic lonely planetarians in third world chic, jabbering about future treks to Nepal, sits Gregory Roberts, the author of the celebrated best seller and cult classic Shantaram at a table by the entrance accompanied by a stunning six foot German -Marwari female friend called Ranyana, sharing a plate of paneer masala and naan.

'Besides my mother Ranyana is the bravest woman who I have met. She has the heart of a lioness" says Gregory who has spent most of his adult life in jails all over the world, many of them in solitary confinement.

Ranyana who makes documentaries in Germany smiles, but says softly "I 'm just an ordinary person." She is meeting Gregory after twenty years, and only found him through the book in which she is a character. "Yes, he was as gentle then as he is now." She says of the author who most resembles an ancient Samurai warrior, "But there was also an angry side to him."

From all over Colaba's budget hotels the tourists are here this evening, to partake of the establishment's chicken tikka masala, its beef chilly and its fish and chips washed down by chilled beer. Bathed in the café's curious mix of halogen, tube and yellow light, the diners, all a little seedy, all on the near side of rough trade, look green at the gills.

Eric Anthony the café's manager says the 4,500 square foot 34 table plus mezzanine café, established in 1871 with its Elvis posters its glass-toped tables and its juice bar was the setting for the Bollywood hit Bluffmaster recently.

"I am here at least once a week "says Gregory, after signing a copy of his book for an enthusiastic German.

At this stage, he is joined by brothers Deenyar and Farzad the café's forty- something owners who have come to show him coffee mugs that bear the café's insignia. The boys took over the establishment after the death of their father in '91, and it's been smooth sailing since then except for a couple of incidents, like the time when Farzad was shot at by an enraged Iraqi diplomat, and had to be operated for a bullet in his leg.

"I used up four of my lives that night," Says the genial Farzad who is a Karate brown belt. "But no, we don't have bouncers at the Leopold. If any one causes trouble we politely ask them to leave"